Bolstering the 2135 lineup, Cleveland Golf has introduced the Elevado, Mezzo, and Cero mallet putters. They are each unique to the 2135 lineup in shape, and have a tremendous amount of weight applied to the appropriate locations in order to produce exceptional roll and consistency. According to Cleveland, “each design is clean with a few distractions to emphasize the raised sightline and focus the golfers’ eyes on alignment”, and by the picture it could not be a more accurate assessment. In the case of this review, the 2134 Cero was provided.
Initial Thoughts
In hand, the Cleveland Golf 2135 Cero has great visual balance. The flat face gives it a presence of a capital “D” from above, with a circular ring gathering nicely in the central back location with the alignment line. The finish appears like a matte black for the majority of the head, standing up well to the elements and contrasting the white golf ball and green putting service. What seems abundantly clear when looking over the Cero putter, is that it is packed with technology that will benefit the golfer in both the quality of the roll, alignment, and overall stroke.
21.35
The 2135 name is derived from the unique sightline, which is raised from the typical putter which has a line on the flange. In this lineup from Cleveland Golf, the alignment line is raised exactly 21.35mm in order to align with the central axis of the golf ball. The idea with this design is that regardless of whether a golfer stands well away from the ball, or directly on top of the ball, they will be able to match alignment.
During testing of the 2135 Cero, alignment was confidence inspiring. While there was limited change in the putting stroke or location of the body in terms of where the putter head was below the head, the alignment line of the Cero along with the intentionally reference point of the writing on a golf ball proved to repeatedly send the ball in the proper direction. There are always additional factors that are involved in adequately sending the ball forward on the proper line, but alignment plays a major role and proved to be easy and comfortable in any stance with the Cleveland 2135 Cero.
TFi (True Feel Innovation)
The face of the 2135 is built for intrigue. A very clear polymer layer is present behind a beautifully milled copper infused aluminum layer, however this design is hidden from the top line due to the crown rolling over top of the elements. What is achieved from this TFi face is an exceptionally smooth, confidence inspiring contact sensation that is suitable for a decent percentage of the face in total. The quality of the strike being maintained off center is most certainly impacted by the mid mallet profile and perimeter weighting, but the sound and feedback sensation rival most milled and insert offerings for softness and strike quality.
One of the biggest benefits of the TFi face design is the ability to take weight that is normally centered on the face, and move it towards the outer portions of the head to improve on stability and normalizing distance errors off center. Once again, while the experience of the testing required the inclusion of all elements, there was a clear and notable benefit of the profile when missing the perfect center of the face. Those who are currently gaming bladed putters and are frustrated with ‘dead’ putts that make contact a small percentage away from the center of the face will be pleasantly surprised by the roll applied to the ball with the 2135 Cero in both great strikes and subpar strikes.
Weighting and Control
What is not discussed about the 2135 Cero and all mid mallet to mallet putters in the lineup is the exceptional amount of weight that makes up the head. For the Cero, the full head weight is 370 grams and it would take quite a bit of convincing to validate those claims without knowing them. The putter itself does not present itself to be overly heavy, while the stroke that is produced is very balanced throughout, leading to an understanding that weight might be improving the overall stroke quality.
In many cases, weighting can produce trouble with consistency in putts from various distances, however the testing of the 2135 proved to be quite versatile in all locations. Regardless of whether the putt was one foot or 40 feet, the head and weight promoted a clean, committed stroke that did not produce any jerking or swaying.
Putt Quality
Despite the countless visible elements that proved beneficial when gaming the 2135 Cero, arguably the best experience was in the overall roll of the ball. This was touched on briefly in the TFi section when roaming away from perfect center, but it does seem like the sweet spot for consistent end over end roll is achieved easier with the Cero vs other models. During the testing process, rounds were played on a variety of course conditions, including very fast tournament greens, and very bumpy post rain greens that housed foot prints and spike marks. In bother situations, the ball quickly translated from first contact to end over end forward roll with what appeared to be very limited skidding. This lead to a great deal of longer putts starting out on the intended line and maintaining that line, which naturally lead to additional putts being made.
Parting Thoughts
Cleveland has a sure fire winner with the TFi face technology and it is exciting to know that they are taking on new challenges when it comes to discretionary weighting and overall weight profile. There is a clear advantage to the roll quality and feedback produced by the copper infused aluminum face with polymer backing that provides the softness of an insert with the audible cues of a milled putter. Most importantly, the mid mallet size and longest alignment line in the 2135 offering, the Cero encourages proper alignment with room for error that will make a difference in games of all levels of putting. For more information on the Cleveland Golf 2135 Cero putter, visit www.ClevelandGolf.com.
